Category Archives: knee saga

getting my ducks in a row (maybe?)

19 Wednesday Aug 2026

Posted by in health, health & happiness, knee saga, knees, sevilla, welcome

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Back to the GP today to check on my next Mounjaro prescription. Not the fill-in Fab GP I saw last month, I guess my usual Nice GP is back from holiday. And that’s fine, I think? Anyhow, talked about the prescription, which she has now renewed for 3 months at the initial “starter dose” of 2.5g. Like me she thought a weight loss of 6 kilos in 7 weeks was a reasonable rate and saw no need to change things. So we’ll see. I mean, there’s no guarantee I’ll keep losing weight at that rate, but for now I’m happy with that and would prefer not to up the dosage.

Then I asked her about an issue I had last week with possible blood in my stool (it was hard to tell) but before sending me off for another colonoscopy (last one was three years ago) she wanted to test for blood, so that’s what we are doing. With my cancer history they tend not to fool around with anything colon-related. She told me I’d be having a colonoscopy in any case, but if the sample tests show traces of blood then it’s a different protocol to follow. Okey-dokey.

Next up… since my shoulder jab about three weeks ago, well it was starting to feel a bit better, but now the pain has resurfaced but feels more concentrated in the front of my upper arm. I told Nice GP they had told me to come back if the first jab didn’t take and so now I also have a new shoulder traumatology appt request in the system. I don’t know if I’ll get the second jab but I’d like to get another opinion on it.

Meanwhile, probably the BEST news of the summer has been that since about ten days ago I have been getting around on just one crutch for the first time in two years. Yes, it still hurts (a lot), and I still walk at a snail’s pace, but it’s actual walking (as opposed to hobbling). Whatever… I’ll take it! How’s your summer going?

mounjaro week 7

11 Tuesday Aug 2026

Posted by in health, health & happiness, knee saga, knees, sevilla

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Yesterday was my 7th Mounjaro injection and the “official Monday morning weigh-in” showed that I have lost 5.5 kgs in six weeks. So that’s good. I mean, I was hoping to lose about 3-4 kilos a month so I am more or less “on schedule”, with a couple more weeks to go until the end of August. I know that with most weight-loss it’s normal to lose more quickly at the beginning and then to start to plateau a bit. I mostly want to get down to the required weight for my knee surgery, which is another 6 kilos. Of course, more would be better, but when I hit that target they will at least put me on the surgery waiting list.

I haven’t been dieting or calorie counting (god forbid) but I have been tweaking my daily eating routine a bit. And I’ve basically halved my wine intake, which makes a difference too. BUT… and this is very important, at least for me… there are no “forbidden foods”, I eat whatever I feel like, make sure I’m getting plenty of veg, still enjoy a glass or two or wine and then just eat either very little or nothing in the evenings. And I’ve been doing my cardio chair workouts every day. To be honest, I’m not sure how much of the weight loss is due to the effects of the drug or just me making more effort motivated by having to fork out 210€ every four weeks.

As a result… well, when you are as overweight as I am a six-kilo loss isn’t obvious to the casual observer but I can see some differences here and there. And between being a bit lighter and having built up a bit more muscle strength (those chair workouts are no joke!) today I was actually able to go out for a walk using just one crutch. Not a hobble, a WALK. It felt so fucking liberating. And yes, the knee still hurt quite a bit and I was exhausted when I got home, but it was doable. Which actually hasn’t been possible since August 2024. Plus the shoulder jab has helped relieve some of that pain. So, feeling cautiously optimistic about maybe getting my life back (please please please).

shoulder shot

27 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in health, hospitals, knee saga, knees, sevilla

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So I went to see the traumatologist today about The Shoulder and, after a few questions, the doc went straight to giving me a cortisone injection, which was totally fine by me. I did tell her that when they gave me the same thing for my knee last year nothing happened and she looked at me calmly and said “that doesn’t mean that this won’t help you now”. And I guess so? I mean, the other one was for pretty much bone-on-bone knee pain (with a torn meniscus thrown in), and this is apparently a tendon problem.

Subscapularis tendinosis. Chronic enthesopathy of the subscapularis, subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis, degenerative changes in the acromioclavicular joint.

Anyhow, I was told it could take 2-3 days before I notice any difference and, meanwhile, to use the arm as little as possible. So no chair workouts involving weights for now. I was also given a print out of other exercises to do, which look pretty straightforward. I can just add them to my daily workout routine.

The (possible) good news is that if it does work then my shoulder pain should be greatly reduced for several months. And if it doesn’t? Then I’m supposed to make another appointment via my GP for a second shot. And since I’m seeing the GP again in three weeks to update my mounjaro prescription that’ll work out. So fingers crossed this helps! Meanwhile, four weeks in with mounjaro (and my tweaks) and this morning I was down by 4 kilos.👍Still the tip of the iceberg, but it’s actually more than the 2-3 kilos a month I was hoping for.

más traumatología

22 Wednesday Jul 2026

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At last! The day after seeing new Fab GP I received the long-awaited phone call from Traumatology saying I had an appointment for my shoulder this coming Monday. After the ultrasound in February I did actually get an appointment in March (for a few days before my knee one) but had to ask for it to be rescheduled. But there was some kind of problem because I never did get another appointment and when I saw Nice GP in May she saw that they had mixed the two March appointments up, assuming I’d gone to the shoulder one, and cancelled the request. So she requested another one. In May. When I saw her last month for the Mounjaro thing she said it was still in the system, nothing she could do. Then I asked Fab GP about it yesterday, who said the same thing but… maybe she tweaked it somehow?

Anyhow, I sure hope they can do something about this because between shoulder pain and knee pain I honestly don’t know which is worse now, and it makes hobbling on the crutches pure hell. These days I mostly drag the right-hand crutch because I can’t lift it enough to use, but I still need to have it with me for things like stairs, very uneven pavement etc. At least they shouldn’t be able to blame this on my being fat and refuse treatment until I lose weight… I hope! 🤞